Made dozens of these donuts and I must say that homemade ones are really less sinful in taste. Or is it just me who felt so? [grins]

The recipe is pretty simple: flour, eggs, milk, butter, sugar, and yeast. A little wait for the yeast to make the dough rise before frying it lightly in vegetable oil. The classic toppings is, of course, icing sugar.

Ingredients

• 5 cups of all purpose Flour
• 2 envelopes of Yeast (7g x 2)
• ⅓ cup of Granulated Sugar
• 1 ½ cups of Whole Milk, warmed to about 46 °C
• ¼ cup of Unsalted Butter, melted
• ¼ cup of Shortening, melted
• 2 Eggs
• Pinch of Salt

For the Glaze:

• 3 ½ cups of Powdered or Confectioner Sugar
• 1 tsp of Vanilla Extract
• Water, as needed

Preparation

1) In a small bowl, add the warm milk and sprinkle over 1 tsp of sugar and the yeast. Allow the yeast to proof for about 5 minutes or until it starts to foam.

2) In the bowl of a standing mixer, add the sugar, eggs, salt, melted butter and shortening, mix either by hand or with a dough hook. Add the yeast mixture and incorporate it in.

3) Add the flour, mix on low until the flour is incorporated, increase the speed to medium and mix the dough for about 4 to 5 minutes or until the dough is nice and smooth.

4) Place the dough into a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and place it somewhere warm to double in size (this can take about 2 to 3 hours).

5) Dump the dough onto a floured surface, punch it down, roll it out to a ½ inch thickness.

6) Lay a couple of baking sheets with parchment paper and sprinkle some flour on each one.

7) Using a donut cutter or a biscuit cutter and a smaller one, cut out your donuts, place them on your baking sheets, placing them a couple inches apart, cover them with a lint free towel and let them rise in a warm spot for about an hour or until doubled again.

8) Add enough oil to a dutch oven so it comes half way up the sides of the pot.

9) While the oil is coming to temperature make your glaze. Whisk together the vanilla and sugar adding 1 Tbsp of water at a time until you get a consistency that's runny enough to dip the donuts in but thick enough for the glaze to stick to them.

10) Bring the oil to a temperature at about 170 °C

11) Using a spatula, lift each one from the baking sheet, place them carefully into the hot oil and fry them for about a minute on each side.

12) Let them drain on a paper towel lined baking sheet.

13) Place a cooling rack on a baking sheet. Coat both sides of the doughnut in the glaze and place them on the cooling rack to set.

Viola! Enjoy your donuts while its fresh